Bakken Shale

As part of a joint industry-state government effort to curb flaring of associated gas at the wellhead, Monday marked the start of new requirements in North Dakota calling for a gas capture plan for each new drilling permit submitted to the Department of Mineral Resource (DMR) oil/gas division.

Mountainview Energy Ltd. completed two wells and more than doubled its average production during the first quarter of 2014 as it continues to de-risk acreage and identify drilling locations in its 12 Gage Project targeting the Bakken/Three Forks in North Dakota.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple told a record crowd of nearly 4,200 participants at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference Wednesday that the past days of relatively light regulation of the oil and gas industry in his state are over.

In an industry in which low-cost feedstock is key, North Dakota’s wealth of natural gas liquids (NGL) makes the state a natural candidate for the development of downstream opportunities in the chemicals industry and all of its offshoots, a researcher/consultant said Wednesday at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, ND. Ultimately, the model is to do what Alberta, Canada did two decades ago and bring in global partners already in the chemical business.

With the increasingly real prospects for the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issuing new rules for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and combating gas flaring on oil/natural gas operations on federal lands, officials in North Dakota on Wednesday said they are skeptical about the federal agency’s ability to oversee industry operations.

CEOs from three major Bakken formation producers on Thursday predicted that North Dakota’s rapid oil/natural gas production growth is just getting started, pointing toward 2 million b/d levels in the next few years and recovery rates in future wells approaching 40%.

There are several other plays and deeper formations yet to be tapped in the Bakken/Three Forks shale play, and the industry is still trying to determine how many total wells it will take to fully recover all the resources in the area, North Dakota’s chief oil/natural gas regulator, Lynn Helms, said Thursday during the final day of the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck.

Preliminary results of an industry-backed study show that crude oil from the Bakken/Three Forks formation poses no more risk in rail shipment than other fuels. The report, unveiled Tuesday at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, is the second this month with the same findings.

While analysts and regulators continue to question rail’s role in U.S. energy transport, speakers at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, ND, on Tuesday predicted increased use of rail shipment as U.S. crude oil production grows by another 3-4 million b/d over the next five to seven years.